List of Mario franchise characters
, Bowser Jr., Lakitu, Toad, Toadette, Toadsworth, Princess Peach, Mario, Luigi, Princess Daisy, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi. Bottom row: Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Goomba, Bullet Bill (flying), Koopa Troopa, Koopa Paratroopa, Dry Bones, Boo (flying), Hammer Bro, Birdo, Piranha Plant, Shy Guy, Petey Piranha, Wiggler.]] The ''Mario'' franchise is a series of video games developed and published by Nintendo. The franchise features an extensive cast of characters. For the main characters that appear under the franchises of spinoff series Donkey Kong and Wario, please refer to list of Donkey Kong characters and list of Wario characters. Protagonists Mario Luigi Princess Peach Toad Yoshi Donkey Kong Supporting Baby Luma is Mario's main companion in Super Mario Galaxy and its direct sequel Super Mario Galaxy 2. In Super Mario Galaxy Baby Luma first finds Mario sleeping in the planet that houses the Gateway to the Starry Sky after he has been blasted out of the Mushroom World, and joins him at the request of Rosalina, aiding him in his quest to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser by allowing him to use the "Spin" move, which he can use to break crystals, attack enemies and further his jumps, among other things. In the ending of the game, Baby Luma sacrifices his life along his brethren to save the universe from a black hole. In Super Mario Galaxy 2, Baby Luma is found by Mario while he was on his way to Princess Peach's Castle and they join forces to rescue the town from a new attack by Bowser, only to be sent out in a new adventure. In this game Baby Luma often receives letters from Rosalina, who remains anonymous for most of the game. He is also called Young Master Luma by other Lumas. Birdo Pauline is the damsel in distress from the original Donkey Kong, as well as the 1994 Game Boy game of the same name. She also appeared in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again. In the original Donkey Kong, she is held captive by Donkey Kong and it is Mario's objective to climb up the construction site and rescue her. Along the way, the player can collect feminine articles (a hat, purse, and parasol) that Pauline drops for bonus points. In the same way that Mario was originally called Jumpman in Japan, Pauline was originally known as . The name Pauline was chosen for the character during the game's distribution in North America after Polly James, the wife of Nintendo of America's warehouse manager, Don James. After Donkey Kong, Pauline made cameo appearances in two NES games, Pinball and Famicom BASIC. Princess Peach, introduced in Super Mario Bros., supplanted Pauline's original role as damsel in distress in the Mario games. Several years later in the Game Boy version remake of Donkey Kong, Pauline gets an official portrait of herself. While previous depictions of Pauline (such as in the arcade game's cabinet artwork) portrayed her as a blonde, she was redesigned as a brunette in the new version. As in the original game, she is taken captive by Donkey Kong. She then officially returns in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, using the same character design as in the remake. She is a guest VIP at the grand opening of the "Super Mini Mario World", a theme park based on Mini-Mario toys, where she is kidnapped by Donkey Kong. She also appears in Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! for the DSiWare, and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem for the DS, where she is once again kidnapped by Donkey Kong. Pauline was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and other developers for the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong. She is the earliest example of a female with a speaking role in a video game, and is cited as a famous example of a damsel in distress in fiction. In the book Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, author Tracey Fullerton discusses Donkey Kong, mentioning Pauline at times. She states that one thing that could be improved was to increase the distress Pauline suffers as the game goes on. Princess Daisy Professor E. Gadd Professor Elvin Gadd ( in Japan), more commonly known as E. Gadd, is a scientist who, with his various inventions, helps Mario and his friends. His nickname is a pun on the interjection "Egad!" In Japan, he is named after Nintendo game designer Yoshiyuki Oyama. He first appears in Luigi's Mansion, in which he investigates the mansion that mysteriously appeared by his house. To help him study the ghosts in the mansion, he uses the "Poltergust 3000", a high-powered vacuum cleaner that can suck in and capture ghosts, and the "Game Boy Horror", an invention for tracking and detecting objects such as Boos. He lends it to Luigi and helps him on his quest. His voice is played by Kazumi Totaka, who also played Yoshi. Other major inventions include a Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device or "F.L.U.D.D." and Magic Brush used in Super Mario Sunshine. E. Gadd also creates a Time Machine in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and various inventions as rewards for making bean coffees at the Starbeans Cafe Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. In Mario Party 6, E. Gadd is featured on a party board called E. Gadd's Garage. He made an appearance in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon in a remodelled lab to assist Luigi again with his "Poltergust 5000" and a "Dual Scream", which replaces the Game Boy Horror. Rosalina Starlow Starlow is a flying star-being who debuted in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. She is small and yellow, who is completely round with a star on her head and brown feet. In her debut, she is shown as a helper to the Mario Bros., as she helps them learn new moves and tells them what to do next. She reappears in the Nintendo 3DS title, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, where she hovers around a sleeping Luigi, and with a touch on the screen, she can tug his mustache, pull his hat down, or anything to affect the dream world Mario is traversing. Toadette is Toad's female counterpart; she appears as a playable character in various Mario spin-off games, such as those in the Mario Party and Mario Kart series. She first appeared as Toad's partner in Mario Kart: Double Dash‼ as a character, and later appeared in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door as an instructor when Mario receives upgraded boots and hammers. Since Mario Party 6, she has regularly appeared in the Mario Party series as a playable character, with the exceptions of the handheld games, where she acts as a non-player character, and Mario Party 9, in which she does not appear at all. Other playable appearances include Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Kart Wii; in both games, she must be unlocked. She appeared in Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix as the owner of a hotel Mario and Toad must rebuild. She has made a cameo appearance in the introduction of Super Mario Galaxy. She was voiced by Jen Taylor in most of her appearances; however, in Mario Party 8, Mario Kart Wii, and Mario Super Sluggers, she was voiced by Samantha Kelly. She was also in Mario Party DS as a non-playable character who needs help to get rid of a Hammer Bro. that has been beating up her musical instruments with his hammer in her music room. In this game, Toadette has a number of collectible musical items, such as her trumpets. Toadette is a mushroom like girl. She has the regular mushroom cap, except hers is pink with white spots, contrary to the usual white with coloured spots. She has a magenta vest lined with gold over her lighter pink dress. She wears white bottoms and brown, padded shoes. In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! she is depicted as wearing an orange dress. In most games, she has pink, balled "braids". The relationship between her and Toad varies between sources. Their team name in Mario Party 6 indicates that they're good friends. The official Mario Kart Wii guide from Prima names her as Toad's sister, though this is unconfirmed by Nintendo itself.Mario Kart Wii Prima Strategy Guide: "Toad's sister has finally been granted permission to race by Princess Peach. She's so excited!" Additionally, the two Toads can be seen holding hands on the ending screen of Mario Kart Wii while she winks at the camera. Toadsworth is an elderly Toad and Princess Peach's longtime steward, first appearing in Super Mario Sunshine, when he comes along with Princess Peach and Mario to Isle Delfino. He makes a brief appearance in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga at the beginning (where he presents Mario and Luigi with a suitcase) and end of the game; and he accompanies Princess Peach on her trip to Rogueport during Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, keeping Princess Peach very close to him, but ends up losing her. In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, he is with Mario and Luigi when Princess Peach takes an experimental trip back in time. He is also included in Super Princess Peach where he gives Peach a parasol named Perry in the cinema and is seen as a lead guitarist of the band called Peach Hit Five in the music room. He also appeared in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, where he was inhaled by Bowser. In Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Toadsworth appeared as the gang went on a vacation in Pi'illo Island. Toadsworth makes a brief appearance in Mario Kart: Double Dash‼ when the player wins a cup. He acts as an umpire in Mario Power Tennis for the Nintendo GameCube as well as in the remake for the Wii, in which Toadsworth reprimands the player when a foul shot is made. In Mario Party 7, he is a host of the boards. He finally becomes playable in both Mario Superstar Baseball and Mario Super Sluggers. Toadsworth is voiced by Charles Martinet, who also voices Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi. N-Philes criticized Toadsworth's voice in Super Mario Sunshine, calling it "laughable", "comical", and "utterly pessimistic". Antagonists and antiheroes Bowser Bowser Jr. Boom Boom is the henchman and faithful servant of Bowser. He first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3 as one of the main antagonists of the game, where he often fights with Mario or Luigi by chasing him flailing his arms, jumping high and flying at them. Boom Boom returns in Super Mario 3D Land 23 years later, where it introduces his new partner, Pom Pom. He resides in various airships where he encounters Mario. In New Super Mario Bros. U, he reprises his old role from Super Mario Bros. 3, guarding the fortresses and towers. After beating him in the first world, Boom Boom has Kamek supporting him by lending him some of his powers. In four episodes of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Boom Boom appears as a silent powerhouse who often cause troubles to Mario and Luigi. Pom Pom Pom Pom is Boom Boom's partner, female counterpart, and fellow minion of Bowser, who debuted in Super Mario 3D Land. In the game, she serves as an Airship boss, where she flips around the arena, throwing Boomerangs with pink bows on them at Mario or Luigi. The arena is different in each boss fight. In the game's seventh world, she fights alongside her partner Boom Boom. Pom Pom is depicted as malicious towards the player, though she is seen winking in a flirty way before every battle. Pom Pom is set to return in Super Mario 3D World, though her boomerang appears to be replaced by some sort of shuriken. Fawful Midbus Midbus is a minion of Fawful from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. He is a large, hulking, creature resembling a pig or dinosaur, who has low intelligence and speaks in broken English, much like his master. Midbus mainly appears as a rival to Bowser, serving as a major boss for the Koopa King. He is seen many times through the game, and is fought three times by Bowser. While waiting for the Dark Star to awaken, Bowser interrupts as always, and Midbus challenges him. While Fawful initially plans to assist Midbus in combat, he later declines, stating that Midbus "has pride". He then powers Midbus into Blizzard Midbus, giving the latter snow based attacks. After Bowser defeats Blizzard Midbus, he freezes in a block of ice, seemingly dead. Fryguy Fryguy is a fireball who wears sunglasses, first appearing as a mini-boss in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2. Dark Star The Dark Star is a malevolent dark entity that appears in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, as the secondary antagonist near the end of the game. Later on in the game, it enters Bowser's body, and leeches off his cells and DNA. After a battle with Mario and Luigi, it exits Bowser's body. It later inhales Dark Fawful, becoming a shadowy, powerful doppleganger of Bowser known as Dark Bowser. At the top of the castle, Bowser and Dark Bowser engage in a final battle. After lowering Dark Bowser's HP, Dark Fawful will re-energize him from the inside, restoring all his HP and super-sizing him. After punching him in the stomach, Dark Bowser coughs up Dark Fawful, who Bowser must inhale, which if done successfully, will allow Mario and Luigi to battle him from within. During Mario and Luigi's battle, Dark Fawful will power up into the Dark Star Core, a combination of him and the Dark Star's core. After defeating the Dark Star Core, Dark Bowser becomes unstable, which allows Bowser to defeat him. Afterwards, Dark Bowser loathes his defeat, before dissolving into the weakened Dark Star, rising into the sky, and exploding, ending the Dark Star once and for all. Gooper Blooper Gooper Blooper is an overgrown Blooper who debuts as a boss in Super Mario Sunshine. He has extremely long tentacles and a round mouth beneath his eyes. He is also capable of fighting out of the water. All of these are characteristics not seen in other Bloopers. Gooper returns in Paper Mario: Sticker Star as the boss of World 3. His weakness is the Sponge sticker, which is used to absorb his poison-spitting attack and squirt it back at him. Defeating him grants Mario the third Royal Sticker. Kamek '' (2012)]] is a Magikoopa who acts as Bowser's caretaker during his childhood and one of his high-ranking minions afterwards. He is Yoshi's nemesis and the primary villain of the Yoshi series. He can perform various feats of magic, such as self-duplication, teleportation, shooting magical blasts, and changing the size of other creatures. He first appeared as the main antagonist of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, which has him trying to abduct Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, who he foresees as causing trouble for the Koopas in the future. Succeeding in only capturing Baby Luigi, Kamek and his minions, the Toadies, try to steal Baby Mario from the Yoshis throughout the game; before every boss battle, Kamek will appear and enhance an enemy for fighting Yoshi. After his appearance in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Kamek appears in several other games. Tetris Attack features him as the penultimate boss and the one who brainwashed the inhabitants of Yoshi's Island. Super Princess Peach includes him as a boss character. In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, he is a henchman of Baby Bowser. In Yoshi Touch & Go, he kidnaps the babies once again. Yoshi's Island DS features him as a main antagonist. In Super Mario Galaxy, while Mario is trying to reach the castle as it is lifted into the sky, Kamek is responsible for using magic to blast him into the depths of space. In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, he is the main villain alongside Bowser, and assists the Koopalings against Mario. He supports Boom Boom and Boss Sumo Bro. instead in New Super Mario Bros. U. Kamek also appears throughout the Mario Party series. Kamek's most recent appearances were as boss in Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. GameDaily listed Kamek as the 16th best Mario enemy, describing him as both a "wise dude" and a "crafty opponent". In Japan, the Kamek name is shared with the Magikoopa enemies which can make Kamek's appearances confusing. This can sometimes lead to a literal translation, as in Super Princess Peach where a boss is described as "A Kamek made huge by magic." Some Japanese sources such as the guide for Super Mario Advance: Yoshi's Island call him "Fang" to distinguish him from regular Magikoopas. Kammy Koopa is an elderly Magikoopa who acts as an adviser and babysitter for Bowser in the first two Paper Mario games. She possesses the usual Magikoopa powers, and is primarily distinguished by her ability to summon yellow blocks, which she has used to both impede and combat Mario. She first appeared in Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64, helping Bowser by leaving enemies in Mario's way, transporting Bowser into the Star Spirit Sanctuary, and augmenting his size and power in the final battle. After being defeated by the Star Kid, Twink, she continued to work for him. In Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, she acted as Bowser's second-in-command. Generally, her position is very similar with Kamek who appeared earlier than her, which possibly means why she is replaced by him in the following Paper Mario: Sticker Star. IGN rated her as one of the weirdest Mario characters. King Boo is the primary antagonist of Luigi's Mansion and the archenemy of Luigi. He plays minor roles in various other Mario games, including the Mario Kart and ''Mario Party'' series. King Boo's First major role is as the final boss of Luigi's Mansion, where he disguised himself as Bowser. King Boo is a member of the Boo species. He is much larger than the average Boo that appear in games after Luigi's Mansion. He dons a crown with a large ruby in Luigi's Mansion, and a regular crown in all other appearances. As well as appearing as the main antagonist of Luigi's Mansion, King Boo also appears as a boss in Super Mario 64 DS (where he was given the incorrect title of "Big Boo"), Super Mario Sunshine, Super Princess Peach, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. He is also an unlockable playable character in several sports games in the series and in the Mario Kart series. In Mario Party 9, he is one of the twelve bosses in the game, with his minigame entitled "King Boo's Puzzle Attack". He returned as the main antagonist in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon. Antasma Antasma is the one of the primary antagonists of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. He is an evil nightmare ghost (although it is revealed that he was originally a bat, who somehow managed to feed off a nightmare) and the enemy of the Pi'llos. Long ago, Antasma stole the Dark Stone, an artifact that had the ability to grant wishes, and planned to use it to take over the world. However, Prince Dreambert and the other Pi'llos fought him and managed to seal him in the Dream World. However, before they did, Antasma smashed the Dark Stone to pieces. The pieces ended up turing all of the Pi'llos to stone and trapping their souls in the Dream World. Antasma first appears in the beginning of the game, while Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toadsworth are on their way to Pi'llo Island. Antasma serves as the tutorial boss for Mario, replacing Bowser from the previous games. After defeating him, Luigi wakes up, revealing the battle to have been a nightmare. Later, after Luigi first opens a Dream Portal, Antasma abducts Peach by pulling her into the Dream World, leading Mario to go after her. After exploring the Dream World and finding Antasma, he creates Dreamy Mario, an evil copy of Mario, which the real Mario must fight. After defeating Dreamy Mario, Antasma escapes to Dream's Deep. After reaching Dream's Deep, Bowser shows up, having arrived on the island to kidnap Peach. Antasma then attempts to team up with Bowser, who reluctantly agrees. After battling the two, Antasma and Bowser escape the Dream World. The two later appear in Dozing Sands, stealing the Dream Stone, the counterpart of the Dark Stone, to use it to take over the world. On Mount Pajamaja, they use the Dreambeats, a strange music that puts all of the inhabitants of the island to sleep, giving the Dream Stone power. Later, they wish for a castle from the stone, which creates Neo Bowser Castle. After breaking into Neo Bowser Castle, Mario and Luigi find Bowser sleeping on Antasma, who's Bowser dreams power the castle. After entering Bowser's dream and defeating him, Bowser betrays Antasma, who reveals that he had been using him the whole time, reducing Antasma to game's secondary antagonist. Antasma and Dreambert briefly duel, before Antasma escapes into the Dream World, in which Mario follows, leading to a boss fight. After defeating him, Antasma inflates and explodes, destroying him for good. Koopa Kid Koopa Kid (called Mini-Bowsers in PAL Territories, Mini Koopas in Japan, and Baby Bowsers in the first three Mario Parties) are minions of Bowser that have so far only appeared in the Mario Party series. He first appeared in the first installment of the series and appeared in every other game after that up until after Mario Party 7. In the first ''Mario Party'', they had be dueled on the Eternal Star board to win stars by rolling a dice block for 20 coins. In Mario Party 2, they had a much bigger role, appearing on every board in the game. He appears in one spot on most boards (similar to Toad), and he would steal five coins from whoever passed him (although occasionally he'll mess up and give five coins to the person who passed him). There is also a Koopa Kid who runs the shady Bowser Bank, who'd give anyone who passed him a 5-coin loan, and would keep track of the total coins he loaned to the players. If anyone landed directly on the Bank Space, Koopa Kid will force the player to pay back all the coins he loaned out right from their own pocket. If the player had no coins, he would steal a star instead (provided the player has one). Another one ran its own item shop in Bowser Land, where they would force the players into buying random items, usually costing 12-20 coins. If the player has less than Koopa Kid wants, he'll take whatever they have (unless the player has zero coins). In Mario Party 3, he ran his own item shop again, this time without forcing the players to buy anything. In Mario Party 4, he would occasionally take Bowser's place when someone landed a Bowser Space. In the Bowser minigames, two of them where seen as Bowser's servant; one is seen fanning him, while the other explains the rules of whichever Bowser minigame the players are going to play. Also, he also holds the dart board and gives out the total score for each player in "Darts of Doom". Koopa Kid became playable for the first time in Mario Party 5 (though not in Story Mode). In Mario Party 6, he was playable again, and also gained his own space. They can be seen working for Bowser in Mario Party Advance. In their final appearance, Mario Party 7, he was no longer playable, and his own space returned again. He was seen aiding Bowser in that game, like the other Mario Parties. Whenever a player landed on his space, he would do random things, like give the player a cursed mushroom, divide the total number of coins in the game equally among the players, or swap the positions of everyone. Koopa Kid also appeared in all three multiplayer Bowser minigames. Koopa Kid disappeared in Mario Party 8, and did not appear in any Mario Party game after that. Bowser Jr.'s debut in the Mario Party series is Mario Party DS, and made a reappearance in Mario Party 9, so it is likely that Koopa Kid retired in favor of him. In Mario Party 4, Koopa Kid called Bowser "Dad", but in later Mario Parties it was adjusted to be "Mr. Bowser". According to Mario Party 7, Koopa Kid says "Another job well done! I bet Mr. Bowser will totally give me a raise after this!", which possibly means that he's employed by Bowser instead of being his child. Koopalings Petey Piranha Petey Piranha or 'Planty', known as in Japan, is a large, powerful Piranha Plant, and the result of a mutation. Whereas normal Piranha Plants usually grow from pipes, Petey's leaves and roots have grown into foot-like and arm-like appendages, which allows him has to use objects such as tennis rackets and golf clubs. He can also use his leaves to fly around in the air. Furthermore, Petey sports a pair of white-spotted red shorts. Although Petey does not speak, he communicated by making growling, drooling, and licking noises, which translate into actual words. He first appeared as the primary boss of Bianco Hills in the game Super Mario Sunshine. He has since appeared as a boss in several Mario games such as Super Princess Peach, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, New Super Mario Bros., Super Smash Bros. BrawlSmash Bros. DOJO http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/gamemode/modea/modea04.html, HAL Laboratory, Nintendo, August 24, 2007. and Paper Mario: Sticker Star. He has also appeared as a playable character in many spin-off Mario games, such as ''Mario'' sports games, and Mario Kart: Double Dash‼ where Petey was paired up with King Boo. Tatanga Tatanga is an alien villain. He is the main antagonist in Super Mario Land, which is his first appearance. In the game he invades Sarasaland and kidnaps Princess Daisy. Mario has to travel across Sarasaland in order to reach him and in the end defeats him in his spaceship with his plane in a dogfight and rescues Daisy. Later, Tatanga returns in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins as a boss and henchman for Wario. But again, Mario was able to defeat him. Tatanga has not appeared in video games since, but is mentioned in some games that Daisy appears in. Waluigi Wario Wart References External links * [http://www.mariowiki.com/Characters Characters of the Mario series at Super Mario Wiki] Category:Mario characters Mario